Angela Ahrendts, a New Palestine native and Ball State University graduate, was just named senior vice president of Apple. She is the current CEO of luxury retailer Burberry.

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It was in New Palestine - a rural Indiana town where Angela Ahrendts sat at the sewing machine concocting her own breed of fashion, cheer led with her sisters and gained a solid Christian upbringing - that Ahrendts says her road to success began.

Compassion for people. Trust and respect. All were Indiana values critical to solid leadership.

"I am hugely proud of my Midwestern roots," Ahrendts, 53, and the current CEO of Burberry said via email this weekend. "Growing up in Indiana, I learned that everything truly begins and ends with people, and the compassion, trust and respect for others that ...